Jerry Paul Gaston, Sr.

Jerry Gaston of Water Mill passed away on Wednesday, November 9th, at the East End Hospice Kanas Center in Quiogue.  He was eighty-five years old.

Jerry was the son of Leroy Gaston and  Helen Carpenter. He was born in Newark, New York, and he had three siblings.

As a young boy, he was cared for by Inez Nelson until he went into the service.

After graduating high school, he went into the U.S. Armed Forces where he served in the Air Force from 1955 to 1959. During his years of active duty, he was stationed in Westhampton and Nova Scotia.

He met the love of his life, Loretta Alice Sikorski at a dance at the Polish Hall in Riverhead in 1956. The two were married in the rectory of Our Lady of Poland Church on December 27, 1956.

As newlyweds, they lived in an apartment in Riverhead for a couple of years. They moved to the family farm in Water Mill in the 1960s when Loretta’s brother Russell became ill and their help was needed. Jerry split his time between work and helping his father-in-law Chester Sikorski as needed on the farm on Deerfield Road.

Loretta and Jerry were blessed with two children, Jerry Gaston Jr. and Maria Gaston. They spent many happy years together playing cards with the family; traveling to Daytona, Florida; and enjoying volley ball games in the backyard at the family home.

Jerry worked for thirty-two years at Lilco where he was recognized for his great service and attendance. He won the perfect attendance award in 1994 for ten consecutive years of never being absent from work.

He and his son Jerry Jr. worked together for many years mowing and fixing equipment, and many neighbors recall seeing Jerry mowing his lawn often or picking up litter along the road. He loved being active and outside mowing, walking, or swimming in the summertime.

In addition to being a great husband and father, he was a wonderful brother-in-law and uncle. He helped teach his sister-in-law Irene Sikorski to drive when no one else would, and in the 1980s, he helped move his sister-in-law Diana Pillsworth and her children, Valerie and Andrew, back to Long Island from upstate.

Jerry was a man who was always in motion. If he wasn’t walking, mowing, or working alongside his beloved son Jerry, he could be found watching old Westerns or television shows with his wife.Family members will miss him for his wit and great sense of humor, and most of all, they will miss seeing how devoted he was to his wife Loretta. Theirs was a love that people dream of, but few find.

Jerry was predeceased by his parents Leroy and Helen, his siblings, Robert, James, and Thelma Fancett; his-inlaws Chester and Alice Sikorski nee Wolinski,his brother-in-law Russell Sikorski; sister-in-laws, Diana Pillsworth and Irene Sikorski.

He is survived by his beloved wife of sixty-five years Loretta Gaston; his son Jerry Gaston Jr. his daughter Maria Cawley nee Gaston and husband Denis; niece Valerie Hanley nee Pillsworth and her husband James R. Hanley along with their children Harrison and Evelyn; and nephew Andrew Pillsworth.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Our Lady of Poland Church, East End Hospice Kanas Center, St. Jude’s Research Hospital, or to cause of your own. 

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